Common ground on farm labor law?

Wednesday

Jun 12, 2019 at 9:15 PMJun 12, 2019 at 9:15 PM

Hundreds of farm owners and workers including those from Ontario County converge on Albany over concerns with proposed labor law

Can state lawmakers find common ground on a proposed farm labor law? Hemdale Farms owner Dale Hemminger, who returned home to the Finger Lakes from Albany Wednesday with a busload of others who rallied at the state Capitol, said he thinks so.

Hemminger was among more than 300 farm owners and workers from across the state who joined with the Grow NY Farms campaign.

At issue is the proposed Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act, which would rescind an 80-year-old law that prohibited farm workers from unionizing. The act would give farm workers the same rights and protections as other workers, including overtime pay and workers compensation benefits. Proponents say it’s high time farm workers receive these equal protections. New York Farm Bureau and like-minded organizations, along with many upstate farm owners, say the law as written would have devastating consequences.

Grow NY Farms supporters aim to educate legislators on the unintended consequences of the proposal. For one, they say it would force farms to significantly cut employee hours, reducing workers’ weekly wages and driving many workers to neighboring states that don’t have the law.

“Agriculture is in a tough spot now,” said Hemminger, whose dairy and greenhouse operation in Seneca Castle was visited last week by state Sens. Pam Helming, R-Canandaigua, and Robert Ortt, R- North Tonawanda, over the labor law issue. Helming, a member of the state Senate Agriculture Committee, and Ortt, ranking member of the committee, are pushing against the law as it's written over farmers’ concerns.

New York state’s minimum wage and the high cost of production make it difficult to make a living in farming, Hemminger said. Farmers in the state also have challenges with the weather and changing seasons not experienced in some other states. Along with losing farm workers, he fears markets would also leave the state due to the labor law.

Hemminger said Helming and other lawmakers, from both sides of the issue, were at the rally and he feels concerns were heard. “We were pleased,” he said. He thinks lawmakers who have pushed for the bill better understand where farmers are coming from — why the law would hurt the state’s agriculture industry.

New York Farm Bureau points to an economic analysis by Farm Credit East estimating that mandating overtime pay would hike labor costs for farmers statewide, on average, by 17% or nearly $300 million. At Hilton Dairy in Hopewell last week, during the visit by Helming and Ortt, co-owner Peg Hilton said their farm would see a 15% hike in payroll if the bill passes. That increase would be on top of the already mandated minimum wage increase, now $11.10 an hour and rising to $11.80 next Jan. 1. Those two additional payroll expenses would hike their cost of doing business by $100,000.

The farm employs eight full-time Hispanic workers who cover milking and care of the barns. Those workers, who are provided housing at the farm, want to work overtime and they send money back to their families in Mexico, she said. Hilton said if the law passed, the farm could not afford to pay overtime and would have to find additional workers as she expects their current workers would leave — going over the border to work in Pennsylvania, which doesn’t have the labor law.

Among those supporting the labor bill is the Fiscal Policy Institute. The FPI is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and education organization, which states its mission is to improve public policies and private practices “to better the economic and social conditions for all.”

On Wednesday, the FPI released a new report it says shows how fair pay for farm workers is affordable and how New York state “can end the archaic exclusion of job protections for farm workers.”

The report, “Farm Workers’ Overtime Pay is Affordable and Long Overdue” looks at giving farmworkers the same rights and protection as other workers, including overtime pay for long hours, and how that would affect farms, farm workers, their local communities, and the state.

“New York has a proud tradition and a great future in agriculture, but it has to be one that includes fair treatment of farm workers. Overtime pay is standard in factories, stores, and offices around the state. It’s long past time for it to become the norm on our farms as well,” stated David Dyssegaard Kallick, FPI deputy director. The institute notes that California, Hawaii, Minnesota, and Maryland already include overtime pay for farm workers and 10 other states allow collective bargaining.

The study found that overtime pay would mean a $34 to $95 increase in the average weekly pay of farm workers. If all of the costs of that wage increase were passed along to farm owners, it would represent 9% of net farm income, an amount the report says is manageable. Some have wondered whether instead the cost might be passed along to consumers. That is a misplaced concern, according to the report, adding “farmers don’t always control the prices they can charge, but even if all of the cost went to price increases it would raise the price by just two percent.”

The report adds that there is not a dollar-for-dollar cost to farm owners since higher wages also make it easier to attract and retain workers. “That lowers turnover, decreases training cost, and increases productivity ... When farm workers earn more, that is better for local communities in numerous ways, not least they can spend more money in local stores, which boosts local businesses and increases local and state sales tax revenues,” according to the FPI.

Mark James, New York Farm Bureau senior field adviser, said he disagrees with the report’s conclusions, noting specifics regarding the impact on rising prices for consumers and issues New York farmers face related to state regulations and seasonal challenges.

According to Grow NY Farms, notable speakers at Wednesday’s rally and press conference included New York Farm Bureau President and dairy farm owner David Fisher, New York Vegetable Growers Association President and farm owner Brian Reeves, and farm workers and other farm owners from across the state. Organizations with Grow NY Farms include: New York Apple Association; Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Inc.; New York State Vegetable Growers Association; and Unshackle Upstate.

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